A monster—the size of several school buses combined—hovered in the dark, pouring sky directly above the forest clearing. It flapped its long, feathered wings and eyed the chaos below, its elongated neck resembling a swan’s. With a sudden jerk of its head, it screeched in triumph and opened its long, crane-like beak.

  A brilliant flash of lightning tore across the sky, revealing the hidden silhouette of a much smaller, hooded figure standing atop the hovering beast. It was a young man. He leaned down and stroked the monster’s neck reassuringly.

  “It’s finally finished,” he said, low and sympathetic. “Thank you, my brother. Thank you, Hono, for your sacrifices. I will never forget you—not until my time comes. This was more than just a victory for us; this was a victory for humankind—a victory for Sen.”

  The man drew back the hoodie of his tracksuit, letting his long red hair spill loose and soaking in the soft patter of rain on his head. In his right hand, he held a strange device that resembled a gun, though the barrel was comically short. A thin wisp of smoke curled from its muzzle, fading away under the falling rain.

  “Yami was a madman…” he muttered, studying the weapon. “But he was also a genius. Even back then, he knew there was a chance the Tiger would take control of the host’s body, so he created a temporary failsafe to put it into slumber. But I guess I can’t say it was only thanks to him… the reason this worked at all is because Master Zero discovered the missing component that activates the medicine.”

  And it so happened… he was that component.

  He returned the gun to the holster at his hip and exhaled, his eyes glowing with a faint blue hue in the darkness. The monster beneath him responded to an inaudible command and began a gentle descent from the sky, twirling as it rode the wind with its feathered wings. After it landed, it extended one wing to the ground, forming a makeshift ramp. The man gave the creature a grateful pat on its furry chest.

  He often wondered if the monster could even understand the gesture. Many scholars argued monsters lacked the capacity to feel emotions like other animals. But he always found that belief contradictory; after all, those same scholars claimed monsters hated humans—that they harbored an unquenchable urge to wipe out every last one of them.

  Yet if monsters could hate, then by extension, they had to be capable of other emotions. No being on this planet could escape the balance of nature. One thing could not exist without its counterparts.

  But maybe… he simply wanted to see the best in them— to humanize them in order to quell his own fear.

  Quite ironic… he thought, walking toward the center of the clearing, passing dozens of blood-drenched, rain-soaked corpses. Fearing something you can control. It doesn’t quite make sense logically…

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  He stopped beside two bodies—Hono, staring lifelessly at the sky, and Sen, still held in her now-limp chokehold.

  He needed to separate them to finish the job more easily. But most importantly—he had to remove the bullet syringe from Sen’s chest.

  Thankfully, Hono had drained the Tiger’s energy and forced it into temporary unconsciousness. But it wouldn’t last. Once the monster consumed more Fear/Sense Energy, Sen would lose control again. And by then, the beast might take full authority over his body.

  That’s where Yami’s device came in—or rather, the medicine it delivered.

  He knelt and pulled the small cylinder bullet from Sen’s chest. A long needle protruded from its tip, having delivered the liquid into Sen’s body. The vaccine bullet was empty now. The job was complete—at least, most of it.

  The red-haired young man lifted Sen off Hono. He grunted under the weight at first, then heaved him into the area where the other contestants lay dead. It would make the scene more convincing.

  On the way back to Hono, he retrieved Ze’s body—by far the hardest to move due to his massive size. Touch would’ve helped make the job easier, but he couldn’t afford to be greedy.

  Although he only had Taste, his power superseded even the concept of senses.

  He tossed Ze beside Hono, then looked down at their mangled, bloodied forms with a grimace.

  His knees moved on their own, falling to the ground, and his hands clasped into a prayer.

  “God… If I may be so selfish as to request that you accept these souls into your beautiful kingdom—to absolve and purify them of their sins—for they have saved this world,” he whispered.

  The irony is—he wasn’t even religious. But with the knowledge he possessed—or rather, what his master had passed on—it was clear that something beyond human comprehension existed. So, he figured, better safe than sorry.

  He rose and turned toward his monster, still waiting a short distance away.

  But then… a familiar figure lay sprawled on the battlefield.

  “Kaiyo…”

  She was breathing—barely. But the bleeding from her ear could be fatal in the next few minutes if not treated.

  And if she died… the mission would fail.

  I’ll make sure that doesn’t happen, he thought with conviction. Not after all we went through.

  He unzipped his tracksuit and retrieved a small, transparent holder, no larger than his finger. Inside was a single blue pill—the same one Hono had used in her fight to negate Sen’s abilities and push her body beyond what it was capable of. Another one of Yami’s inventions.

  Without hesitation, he opened the case, removed the pill, and gently slid it between Kaiyo’s lips.

  Now, the final stage of the mission had to begin—before they came.

  He returned to the monster and climbed up the wing ramp to stand on its back. With a mental command, the beast took flight, its swan-like wings lifting them into the stormy sky. They hovered several hundred feet above the clearing once again. Thunder rumbled as the rain continued to pour without an ounce of remorse.

  Nature could be just as cruel and wicked as it could be beautiful.

  He inhaled, drowning out the noise of the world, and focused.

  In a flash, five swirling blue lines—visible only to him—lashed out from his body like ravaging worms, slithering across the land in search of prey. They moved with such speed that no animal could escape. There was a limit to their range, but that didn’t matter…

  He had already found his victims.

  He felt his mind split as control took hold. His desires, his will—his plan—were now connected.

  “Come forth,” he commanded, raising his arms.

  From the shadows and undergrowth of the forest, five monsters emerged into the corpse-filled clearing.

  “Now feast.”

  The grotesque sound of flesh tearing and bones crunching echoed through the forest.